In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
Ver. 3. In the day when the keepers of the house, &c., ] i.e., The hands and arms, wherewith we defend the head and whole body - called a house also by St Paul - from harm and danger, and maintain our lives; which are therefore called the "lives of our hands," because upheld with the labour of our hands. Isa 57:10 These are fitly called keepers or guardians for their usefulness, and for their faithfulness too. Numa Pompilius consecrated the hands to faith; his successor, Tallus Hostilius, being a profane, perfidious person, and a condemner of all religion, as that which did but emasculate men's minds, and make them idle, brought in and worshipped two new gods, viz., Paver and Pallor - Fear and Paleness. a Like another Cain, "Sighing and trembling he was upon the earth," so the Septuagint renders that,. Gen 4:12 Not his hands only trembled, which is thought to be Cain's mark, Gen 4:15 but his heart too. Isa 7:2 Not with old age either, as here, but with the terrors of an evil conscience. But to return to the text. Old men are full of the palsy for the most part, and many other infirmities, which here are most elegantly described by a continued allegory. Men draw forth as lively as they can the pictures of their young age, that in old age they may see their youth before their eyes. This is but a vanity, yet may good use be made thereof. So contrarily the Preacher here draws out to the life the picture of old age, b that young men may see and consider it together with death that follows it, and "after death, judgment."
And the strong men shall bow themselves.] Nutabunt: the legs and thighs shall stagger and falter, cripple and crinkle under them, as not able to bear the body's burden. The thigh in Latin is called femur, a ferendo, because it beareth and holdeth up the creature, and hath the longest and strongest bone in the whole body. The leg hath a shinbone and a shankbone, aptly fitted for the better moving. The foot is the base, the ground and pedestal which sustaineth the whole building. These are Solomen's "strong men"; but as strong as they are, yet in old age they buckle under their burden, c and are ready to overthrow themselves and the whole body. Hence old men are glad to betake them to their third leg, a staff or crutch; Membra levant baculis tardique senilibus annis. Hence Hesiod calls them τριποδας. Let them learn to lean upon the Lord, as the spouse did "upon her beloved," Son 8:5 and he will stir up some good Job to be "eyes to them when blind, and feet to them when lame,." Job 29:15 Let them also pray with David, "Cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth." Psa 71:9
And the grinders cease, because they are few.] The teeth, through age, fall out, or rot out, or are drawn out, or hang loose in the gums, and so cannot grind and masticate the meat that is to be transmitted into the stomach, for the preservation of the whole. Now the teeth are the hardest of the bones, if that they be bones, d whereof Aristotle makes question. They are as hard as stones, in the edges of them especially, and are here fitly compared to millstones, from their chewing office. The seat of the teeth are the jaws, where they have their several sockets, into which they are mortised. But in old men they stand wetshod in slimy humonr, or are hollow and stumpy, falling out one after another, as the cogs of a mill, so that
“ Fragendus misero gingiva panis inermi. ” - Juvenal.
And those that look out at the windows.] The eyes are dim, as they were in old Isaac and Jacob, A heavy affliction surely, but especially to those that have had "eyes full of adultery," 2Pe 2:14 "evil eyes," windows of wickedness, for the conscience of this puts a sting into the affliction, is a thorn to their blind eyes, and becomes a greater torment than ever Regulus the Roman was put to, e when his eyelids were cut off, and he set full opposite to the sun shining in his strength; f or than that Greek prince that had his eyes put out with hot burning basins, held near unto them. g
a Plutarch. Lactantius.
b Ecquem vero mihi dabis rhetorem tam magnifice et exquisite disserentem, et in non obscura sententia tot lumina, imo flumina orationis exserentem!
c Genua labant. - Virg.
d Lactant., De Opif. Dei.
e Plut.
f Oculus ab occulendo.
g Turkish History.